A woman who was filmed putting a cat in a wheelie bin has been offered police protection after being identified by the RSPCA.

The grey-haired suspect was tracked down after she was caught on CCTV by the cat’s owners, Daryll and Stephanie Mann, at their Coventry home.

The RSPCA said she was being offered police protection because of the “backlash against her”.

They would only say she is from the Coventry area.

The Manns found the trapped one-year-old cat when they heard her cries on Sunday morning.

They thought Lola must have been dumped in the bin by drunken yobs.

But when they looked through their CCTV footage, they were shocked to discover it was a middle-aged woman.